Improving workplace safety by improving ergonomics: a study by North Carolina State hopes to reduce work-related injuries by providing ergonomic alternatives.

Carpal tunnel syndrome, back problems, arthritis and other medical ailments have become all too familiar with American workers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5.7 million work-related injuries in 1999, which resulted in 1.7 million days away from work. But a study at North Carolina State University is hoping to use ergonomic research to correct some of those problems in the furniture industry.

Dr. Gary Mirka, associate professor of industrial engineering at NCSU, specializes in ergonomics and has done work in a variety of industries to find solutions for jobs that frequently have injuries. "Those might be new tools that the workers can use or new work methods they can employ to try and reduce the risk of injury," he says. Mirka became involved in the furniture industry through NCSU's Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center, an industry-funded group interested in research projects that will help the industry.

Mirka and his team went to furniture companies and videotaped workers performing various tasks, analyzed the injury potential and evaluated the companies' record of injuries from the OSHA data. Following the initial evaluation, the team created and tested several devices designed to address the problem areas they discovered.

"We did a fairly detailed ergonomic assessment of those jobs, trying to identify the specific tasks that seem to be placing people at risk," Mirka says. "Then we come back and brainstormed on ways we can alter the job to try and reduce the risk factors, like excessive force, awkward postures, highly repetitive work or exposure to vibrations."

Creating Solutions

Mirka says several devices the team has created have benefits in the upholstery side of the furniture industry. For example, the team developed an adjustable table that allows a worker who is stapling fabric on a couch to reduce back strain caused by repeated bending into awkward positions. The table moves up or down on a pneumatic system, so that worker does not need to bend.

Other breakthroughs have been in the case goods side. Sanding desks, tables and the like prior to staining requires a random orbital sander. A worker must grip the head of the sander in a configuration that is hard on the wrist and finger tendons. Mirka's team developed a glove-and-harness system that allows the operator to relax the hand while working (see photo).

Parts handling has also come under close scrutiny. "We noticed shop carts with small pieces that people were taking to a sanding location or to another machine," Mirka says. "While we were out in the facilities, we noted a lot of repetitive bending and lifting for relatively small pieces, which is not only bad for the back, but also very inefficient because of the wasted motions that are required."

In response to their observations, team members developed a lift to keep workers from bending down. Workers can roll the shop cart onto the lift and then use a button to keep elevating the cart, so the work pieces are always at about elbow length.

Mirka also has been looking into a new spray gun design that has two alternate grips, depending on wether a vertical or horizontal surface is being sprayed. He adds that they found an OMX spray gun by DeVilbiss that is already on the market and addresses some of the issues that the team observed.

Real-World Applications

Once a method or a tool has been developed and studied, the prototype is sent into the workplace to be field-tested. "We make sure that the positive impact on ergonomics we saw in the laboratory occurs in the field," says Mirka. "We also measure the effects of the new methods on productivity."

These changes will help to relieve stress on workers' bodies, but the workers must be willing to adapt to them. "We recognize that we can create the greatest solution in the world, but if it slows work down, they probably won't buy into it "he says. "This is particularly the case in the upholstery industry where workers are getting paid by the piece. If we slow them down at all, we're dead in the water." One way to overcome this resistance is to try and make the fewest possible changes to a familiar tool. A redesign of a tool currently in use keeps the familiarity and adds the ergonomic benefits.

Currently, the prototypes are field-tested for two months, but Mirka says he would like to see a study look at the changes over an extended time frame, to see what the long-term changes are. He says a longer study can track changes in both the incidence rate of work-related injuries and the severity of those injuries. "That's our next goal, to have a five-year project looking at these issues," he says.

RELATED ARTICLE: OSHA to Form Ergonomics Panel

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration recently announced plans to form a National Advisory Committee on Ergonomics.

The 15-member committee is part of OSHA's new strategy for reducing ergonomic-related injuries and illnesses in the workplace. It will be composed of people with experience or expertise with ergonomic issues.

John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor, said, "Our four-pronged approach for continuing and accelerating the reduction or ergonomic-related injuries and illnesses in the workplace -- guidelines, research, outreach and assistance, and enforcement--will benefit from the experience of the members of this committee."

The committee will advise on a number of issues involving information on various industry or task-specific guidelines; identification of gaps in the existing research on ergonomics and the application of ergonomic principles in the workplace.

OSHA's new approach to protecting workers from ergonomic-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome encourages the development of industry and task-specific voluntary guidelines based on existing industry best practices. It is a far cry from the Clinton Administration's rule that would have required all industries to comply with the same general standards. President Bush and Congress repealed the ergonomics standard in March 2001.

The new OSHA ergonomics plan has earned kudos from industry and condemnation from unions.

Andy Counts, executive vice president of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., said, "This is an important development One size does not fit all and each industry must address the ergonomics issue as it pertains to their workers. We are working to develop furniture-specific guidelines for use by our member companies."

On the flip side, Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents 14,000 member companies, said, "The Labor Department's determination to advance research into ergonomics and aggressively disseminate information to employers and their employees is the most effective way to reduce injuries related to repetitive motion. Creation of a national advisory board will assure that this important subject receives the attention it deserves, and that the decline in ergonomics injuries documented in recent years will continue."

Unions Back Senate Bill

The AFL-CIO has argued that the new OSHA ergonomics policy lacks teeth. The labor union is encouraging its members to write their congressmen in support of a bill (S. 1284) introduced by Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) that would require the Department of Labor to issue a new ergonomics standard within two years.

In its letter supporting S. 2184, the AFL-CIO states, 'The Bush plan' does not include a new ergonomics standard - only a promise to develop voluntary guidelines sometime in the future. Only one industry - nursing homes - has been identified for attention. There is no set plan to do anything for the millions of other workers who Face serious hazards and suffer from painful injuries."

Rich Christianson